Headlight control.



P.-MURPHY.

HEADLIGHT CONTROL.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE to. 1914.

Patented July 20, 1915.

wi lmeoou PURL MURPHY, OF ST. CLAIR, MISSOURI.

HEADLIGHT CONTROL.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 20, 1915.

Application filed June 10, 1914. Serial No. 844,265.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, Print. MURPHY, a cit1-zen of the United States, residing at St.

Clair, in the county of Franklin and State trols for motor vehicles, theobject in view being to provide simple and practical headlamp turningmechanism for causing the headlamps to turn in accordance with thesteering wheels for the purpose of throwing the rays of light on theroad in accordance with the path to be traveled by the machine, the saidlamp controlling means being shiftable to an operative or inoperativeposition by simple means under the control of the driver in his seat onthe machine. Thus in the day time, when the headlamps are not beingused, the lamp turning 1nechanism is inoperative and wear and tearthereon is prevented. After night fall or when the lamps are in use, thelamp controlling or turning mechanism may be quickly thrown into itsoperative position by the driver without leaving his seat.

With the above and other objects in view, the invention consists in thenovel construction, combination and arrangement of parts, as hereindescribed, illustrated and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings :Figure 1 is a perspective view partlybroken away of the forward portion of an automobile showing the lampcontrolling mechanism of this invention applied thereto. Fig. 2 is anenlarged detail perspective view of a portion of said mechanism showingthe means for throwing the lamp controlling elements into and out ofoperation.

Referring to the drawings 1 designates the usual head lamps of anautomobile which, under the present invention, are supported by forks 2having vertical journal portions 3 which are mounted to turn in thesleeves or bearings 4 of a pair of lamp supporting brackets 5 secured tothe side frame bars 6 of the chassis.

The vertical posts of the lamps are provided with laterally extendingarms 7 which are connected by a rod 8 to cause both of said lamps toturn in unison. One of the lamp posts is provided at its lower end ithan arm 9 from which a connecting rod 10 extends rearwardly as shown inFig. 1, said rodbeing connected at its rear extremity to a pin 11 whichextends upwardly from a slidable runner 12 mounted for movementlongitudinally of the arm 13 of a toothed sector 14:, said sectormeshing with and being actuated by agear 15 such as a worm on thesteering shaft 16 of the motor vehicle. The sector 14 together with the.arm. 13 constitute a sector lever which is fulcrumed at the point 17 ona supporting bracket 18 connected at 19 to the machine frame in rigidrelation thereto.

The bracket 18 is recurved to provide a supporting extension 19 on whichis fulcrumed at 20 a runner shifting lever 21 of bell crank form. Thearm 21 of the lever is curved and provided with an arcuate slot 22 inwhich the pin 11 above referred to is received so that when said lever21 is swung to one side or the other, it shifts the runner 12 in acorresponding direction, said runner being provided with retainingflanges 23 to hold the same to the arm 13 of the sector lever whilepermitting said runner to slide freely in the direction of lengththereof. The other arm 24 of the lever 21 has attached thereto anoperating rod 25 which extends through the dash'26 of the machine and isprovided with a suitable handle 27 and is also shown as provided with alongitudinal series of notches'28 adapted to engage a keeper lip 29 onthe dash so as to maintain any adjustment of the rod 25.

The mechanism is shown in its operative position in Fig. 2 by fulllines, the sector lever being actuated by the worm gear 15 and servingto move the connecting rod 10 back and forth so as to turn the lamps inunison with the steering wheels. When the lamp turning mechanism is notin use, the lever 21 is shifted by means of the rod 25 to the dottedline position of Fig. 2 in which the pin 11 is brought into line withthe fulcrum pin 17 of the sector lever. Therefore, notwithstanding thefact that the sector lever is still actuated by the steering shaft 16,no movement is imparted to the rod 10 and hence the lamps for the reasonthat there is no relative movement between the pin 11 and the fulcrumpin 17. When adjusted to the last named position, the connectionsbetween the sector lever and the lamps remain idle thus doing away withexcessive and unnecessary Wear on the lamp supporting posts and otherparts intimately associated therewith.

What I claim is 1. In headlamp control for motor vehicles, thecombination of an oscillatory headla np, a gear on the steering shaft, asector lever actuated by said gear, a runner slidable on said levertoward and away from the fulcrum thereof, a connecting rod extendingfrom said lever to said lamp for oscillating the latter, and means forsliding said runner on the sector lever including a shifting leverconnected With said slide, and a manually operable device accessible tothe driver in his seat for moving said shifting lever.

2. In headlamp control for motor vehicles, the combination of anoscillatory headlamp,

a gear on the steering shaft, a sector lever actuated by said gear, arunner slidable on said lever toward and away from the fulcum thereof, aconnecting rod extending from said lever to said lamp for oscillatingthe latter, manually controlled means for sliding said runner includinga shifting lever connected With said slide and provided With an arcuateslot, and a pin on said runner Which holds said connecting rod and Worksin the slot of said shifting lever.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of tWo Witnesses.

PURL MURPHY.

Witnesses:

D. M. I-IIBBARD, S. D. BELEW.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G.

